# What are Hero Nodes?

**What are Hero Nodes?**

Hero Nodes are software-defined infrastructures on the XR One blockchain that observe and verify the validity of transactions. The Hero Node software monitors the chain and submits assertions verifying the validity of the blockchain state. In order to run a node and receive rewards, the user must own a Hero Node license NFT and either delegate the operations or provide sufficient compute capacity for the required period of time per epoch.

Initially, Hero Nodes will serve essentially as observer nodes in the Arbitrum Orbit chain L3 consensus protocol. But as Hero Nodes are Infrastructure-as-Software, they will take a life of their own and evolve into a key part of the XR One ecosystem serving multiple functional purposes.&#x20;



**Hero Nodes Roadmap**

* **Hero node Fractionalization:** Access to node licences has been reserved for those web3 users with access to large amounts of cryptocurrency. Even Hero Node prices will quickly be unobtainable for most gamers and recent adopters of web3 technologies.  To that end, the XR Foundation has tasked Saltwater.Labs to work with gaming guilds to develop a fractionalisation solution to ensure access to participating in the infrastructure layer of XR one is accessible to those who matter to the network most, gamers.
* **Passive operation:** Hero Nodes will be integrated into the game launchers and games themselves that are integrated with the XR One blockchain.  This will enable gamers to earn rewards while they play.
* **Decentralized sequencers:** The XR One team is working closely with the Offchain labs team to align Hero Nodes with the Arbitrum BoLD (Bounded Liquidity Delay) strategy and collaborating on bringing decentralized sequencers to Arbitrum Orbit chains. Hero Nodes will be one of the first pieces of Arbitrum L3 infrastructure to play a role in shared sequencers which will eventually replace the current, permissioned fraud-proof mechanism that powers Arbitrum chains today.&#x20;
* **Container nodes:** In this step, the Hero nodes will coordinate workloads by pointing enhanced computing requirements to latent capacity being offered by other participants on the network. This containerization strategy will enable distributed graphics computing for the games on XR One as well as compute for Sidekick, XR One’s AI offering.&#x20;



**Economic Function of Hero Nodes**

Apart from being a key piece of infrastructure, Node License holders also play an economic role. The XR ecosystem is a multi-game, multi-studio ecosystem with a host of competitive games already slated to launch on XR One. Many of these projects need a distribution channel to securely increase the float of their assets.&#x20;

Currently, airdrops are a way to do this but come at the risk of not finding the right market. With Hero Nodes being distributed in a very selective and targeted manner; we are incubating a strong community that will act as a distribution channel for games launching on XR One.&#x20;

This means that 3rd party projects will airdrop their game assets to Hero Node license holders and reach the right market for Game-Fi and gaming economy participants.&#x20;



**Governance function of Hero Nodes**

Hero Node License holders will form the foundation of the early governance participants.  The XR Foundation will over time build an active treasury to support both the advancement of the XR One network through onboarding new games and partners and contribute resources to the impact causes that are affecting the XR One community, we call this Play2Impact.

As the network grows, the the foundation and the Hero Node operators will accumulate $XR which can be used to participate in governance functions such as network take rates and indirect decisions that affect the $XR distributions to the Hero Node operators.

Further, as the network decentralizes, further control of the needs of the XR One network will be shared with the community of Her Node license holders running nodes.&#x20;

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